faulty radar

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just bought a mc wester sea forth, it had a radar, but was faulty, after some tests discovered that it was the mother board.
can it be fixed?
is it cheaper to by new 1?
radar is RAYTHON 40X
can any 1 tell me about the yacht?
 
I expect you can get a new mother board if the radar is not too old, but it will be expensive by the time it has been fitted and tested. If the radar is more than about 10 years old then other components, such as the drive motors in the scanner, the daughter boards for the video and the dispaly may also be approaching the end of their life so you could have a situation where you repair something and something else than fails.

This is called the bath tub affect since the curve for the failure of electronic components is shaped like a bath tub, they either fail very soon after equipment build or not for a long time, but when they start to go the unreliability of the equipment builds up very quickly.

Suggest you contact a good supplier like Greenham Regis for professional advice, or indeed ring Raymarine. They have a technical support office. Dont bother to email, they wont answer.

Chris Stannard
 
Welcome. Sorry I can not advise on this specific radar but you may be interested in how I solved my problem.

I bought my Macwester Seaforth 5 years ago and then spent 3 years refitting and have been sailing it on the East Coast for the past 2 years.

The boat was built around 1982 and came with an old radar and a first generation auto pilot. I soon concuded that the best way forward was to replace the lot on grounds of performance, reliability and power consumption. It was costly but I believe it was worth biting the bullet.

I am very pleased with the performance of the Ratheon ST60 system, radar and chartplotter. I was able to retain the auto pilot motor.

Overall the boat suits my requirments. Stacks of accommodation for a couple of guest along with our daughter and 2 grand childeren. In light winds (below 10 knots) the sailing performance is not sparkling. In stronger winds she makes good speed (6knots) and gives a comfortable and secure ride. The dog house provides brillant protection from the weather - occassionally I have had to put on my wet jacket (mainly to keep warm at night) but have never had to use my wellies or oily trousers.

With early retirement in the bag, I am looking forward to some extended cruises this season. If you would like to hear anymore about my experiences just email me.
 
Welcome. Sorry I can not advise on this specific radar but you may be interested in how I solved my problem.

I bought my Macwester Seaforth 5 years ago and then spent 3 years refitting. I have been sailing it on the East Coast for the past 2 years.

The boat was built around 1982 and came with an old radar and a first generation auto pilot. I soon concuded that the best way forward was to replace the lot on grounds of performance, reliability and power consumption. It was costly but I believe it was worth biting the bullet.

I am very pleased with the performance of the Ratheon ST60 system, radar and chartplotter. I was able to retain the auto pilot motor.

Overall the boat suits my requirments. Stacks of accommodation for a couple of guests along with our daughter and 2 grand childeren. In light winds (below 10 knots) the sailing performance is not sparkling. In stronger winds she makes good speed (6knots) and gives a comfortable and secure ride. The dog house provides excellent protection from the weather - only occassionally do I have to don the wet jacket (mainly to keep warm at night) and have never had to use my wellies or oily trousers.

With early retirement in the bag, I am looking forward to some extended cruising this season. If you would like to hear anymore about my experiences just email me.
 
I think the R40X was produced until about 1999 or so. So it isn't that old and you might not want to junk it right away. While I think you can definitely get spare parts from Raytheon, those will probably cost a fortune. Once in a while I have seen those units, or parts, like just the display, show up on ebay, and then it is often quite cheap to get. Alternatively you might find somebody to take a look at your motherboard and see if it is easy to fix. You didn't say what the symptom is.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.taniwani.de>http://www.taniwani.de</A>
 
Where are you based ?

in a previous life I used to install and fix raders. I am based in Kent, and I would not mind having a look if you are close by or you can sail to Kent ??


Tom
 
Don't have radar on my Macwester 30 so cannot help you there. Why not join the Macwester owners association? From what I can see there were only 20 Seaforth and Hebridean(same as yours but with a deck saloon) built but there will be other owners in the association who are a good source of information, also run some good "Macwester meets" during the year in different locations. In the user options section why don't you fill in the boat and location details so people know where you are. It is not unusual for folk nearby to make the offer the chap in Kent has and you get assistance for free, or cheap, which may often involve a drink somewhere as boating is thirsty work. www.macwester.org. Regards Paul
 
I am based at Canvey Island and would be willing to visit you at your conveniance.
I was told that the Motherboard was uneconomical to repair, but out of curiosity I would like a second opinion as the Raython X40 is a good Radar and very clear to read.
 
Did they say what prob was on pcb.Some things can be obvious to practiced eyeball.broken tracks etc.My Furano works for 10 mins before packing up,if i poke particular connector block up in dome it works again.Jus too bone idle to get iron out and fix at moment.

Oooh look its still not dark and its nearly 5pm
 
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